Telegram blocked the account of the editor-in-chief of “Important Stories”

On August 19, the Telegram messenger blocked the account of the editor-in-chief of the publication “Important Stories” Roman Anin. Novaya Gazeta writes about this with reference to Anin himself.

“Yesterday I couldn’t log into Telegram because it was deleted from me, and it said that my account was banned, banned in English. I can’t restore it yet,” the journalist said. He does not know the reasons for the blocking; the messenger support service did not answer him.

On August 20, journalist Roman Anin was included in the list of individuals who are “foreign agents.” The editor-in-chief’s Telegram account was blocked the day before he was recognized as a “foreign agent.”

• On August 20, the court ordered “Important Stories” to remove the publication that Moscow dance teacher Aya Belova and Kazan resident Natalya Bogdanova participated in the purchase of Pirelli shares for one of Rosneft’s structures. The publication must pay compensation to the Muscovite.
• In addition to Anin, five other “Important Stories” journalists and the head of the NGO “Yakutia - Our Opinion” Stepan Petrov were included in the register of individuals-“foreign agents”. The new “foreign agent” media were the TV channel “Dozhd” and the publication “Important Stories” itself.
• As of August 20, the register of media “foreign agents” included 18 media outlets and 25 people. These include Radio Liberty, Meduza, The Insider , activists and journalists.
• At the end of December 2020, the State Duma adopted changes to the legislation on “foreign agents”. According to new clarifications, the status of “foreign agent” can be obtained by an individual engaged in political activities and receiving money for this from abroad. Another bill prohibits the dissemination in the media of information from “foreign agents” without a special note.